The beloved indie band split in 1987 and have batted away suggestions about a reformation ever since, with guitarist Johnny Marr recently joking to NME that he will only reform The Smiths if the current UK government steps down.

Ellis said he'd "be very interested" in getting the band if they were to reform, but did say though that he would have to be sure that the Scottish event's audience would want them on the bill and he didn't feel as sure as he had when he booked The Stone Roses.

Asked if he'd book The Smiths, Ellis said: ""I'd be very interested. If it happened, I'd definitely be very interested. But you've got to get the feedback from the audience before you book and find out if they suit our core audience. The Stone Roses suited that perfectly, but maybe the Smiths are not seen the same way by 18-25 year olds as the Roses, but we'd still love to put them on."

Ellis also spoke about his plans for the festival's 20th anniversary and said that though he'd like to secure a number of big Scottish acts, he wasn't sure if any could headline the event.

Asked if he'd like to book a Scottish headliner for 2013, Ellis said: ""We want to have the best Scottish bands that are around, it's something we're always looking to reflect. But we've got to look beyond Scotland, we sell tickets in England, we sell tickets everywhere, we need to have stand-out artists."

He continued: "I'm not saying we'd never have a Scottish headliner, we've had them in the past and we're already talking to some Scottish bands about playing next year."